Buildings (Structures)

News about Buildings (Structures), including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 14, 2015

Former Bronx Borough Courthouse opens to public for first time in nearly four decades, hosting free art exhibition organized by nonprofit No Longer Empty; building is undergoing $10 million renovation, and is expected to reopen permanently by 2017. MORE

Jun. 14, 2015

Planned residential tower that will house graduate students, faculty and staff on Cornell Tech's Roosevelt Island campus will be largest and tallest sustainable high-rise in the world when construction is completed in 2017; passive-house building will maintain comfortable temperatures year round without any active heating or cooling systems. MORE

Jun. 1, 2015

Rooftop lounges, restaurants and observatories have proliferated in New York City as developers seek to squeeze full value out of properties; trend is exemplified by opening of new observatory atop 1 World Trade Center. MORE

May. 31, 2015

Several apartment towers planned for area around West 57th Street, just south of Central Park, will likely set records for heights of buildings as well as prices paid for units. MORE

May. 19, 2015

Two-year-old girl Greta Greene, who was hit in head by falling debris from Manhattan building, dies at hospital; New York City's strict facade-inspection law has increased public safety, but has not eliminated all danger. MORE

Mar. 18, 2015

Urban Green Council, New York chapter of United States Green Building Council, reports excessive heat is lost in winter from leaks in New York City buildings, particularly from elevator shafts; recommends inexpensive retrofitting of large multifamily buildings, which could save city at least $11 million per year and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30,000 metric tons. MORE

Mar. 4, 2015

Michael Kimmelman Critics Notebook; Orange County Legislature is set to vote on whether to demolish Orange County Government Center in Goshen, NY, designed by architect Paul Rudolph. MORE

Jan. 21, 2015

Senate lawmakers display rare bipartisan agreement, approving amendment to Keystone XL pipeline bill intended to improve energy efficiency in buildings; measure will probably sit in limbo in Congress before it becomes law as part of Keystone bill or stand alone legislation; Congress has not passed a significant energy bill into law since 2007. MORE

Jan. 2, 2015

Francis X Clines Editorial Notebook suggests New Yorkers should get used to slim buildings, so-called pencil towers, like one being erected at 432 Park Avenue at 57th Street; predicts other, similar buildings will be erected in near future, changing city's iconic skyline. MORE

Dec. 9, 2014

Los Angeles Mayor Eric M Garcetti proposes plan to retrofit thousands of wooden apartment buildings and large concrete offices against catastrophic damage in big earthquake; also says city should create new firefighting water supply system; if approved, required safety measures would cost billions in private and public sectors. MORE

Nov. 19, 2014

Paris Journal; plans to build a 42-story glass office Triangle Tower are being fiercely debated in Paris, city that has long eschewed skyscrapers in defense of its picturesque 19th-centruy skyline; resistance to change is offset by the realities of a moribund economy, in which project could present a much-need infusion of jobs, retail space and private investment; tower would cost about 500 million euros, or about $627 million. MORE

Nov. 2, 2014

Op-Ed article by geriatrician Louise Aronson laments that many modern architectural designs fail to take into account needs of elderly; contends current demographic realities are creating multiple incentives to build structures that are well suited to older people's needs. MORE

Oct. 22, 2014

Los Angeles Fire Department is agreeing to drop 40-year-old regulation that every skyscraper in city be topped by a helipad to allow for emergency rescues; it is deferring to architects, elected officials and downtown champions who view Regulation 10 as superfluous at a time of advancement in fire safety technology and as a self-imposed prescription for architectural mediocrity. MORE

Oct. 14, 2014

The Appraisal column notes that 104-unit condiminium tower at 432 Park Avenue is, at 96 stories, arguably New York city's tallest building; observes that New Yorkers are divided in their opinions of the structure, which is altering Manhattan's skyline; some are awed by its symmetries, an undeniable feat of engineering, and others repulsed by the remarkably high cost of its units, an undeniable feat of excess. MORE

Jul. 20, 2014

Christopher Gray Streetscapes column on Lotos Club at 110 West 57th Street in Manhattan; once breathtaking and delicate work of architecture by Donn Barber, building underwent total transformation of its facade by architect William I Hohauser in 1950. MORE

Jul. 18, 2014

United States Geodetic Survey issues earthquake forecast maps for New York City that indicate there is a slightly lower hazard for tall buildings than previously thought. MORE

Jul. 2, 2014

Four people are rescued from rubble of 12-story building three days after its collapse in southern India; rescuers also uncover 10 bodies at the site, bringing death toll to 30; no one was yet living in the new building, which crumpled in heavy rain. MORE

Jun. 30, 2014

Rescuers digging through rubble of 12-story building that collapsed in heavy rains in Chennai, India, recover bodies of 11 people and rescue 21 survivors; possibly many more people remain trapped under rubble; builder is arrested; 10 people die in another building collapse in New Delhi. MORE

Jun. 29, 2014

Two buildings more than 1,000 miles apart in India collapse within hours of each other, killing 11 people and trapping dozens of others in the rubble; building collapses are common in India, where construction standards are poor. MORE

Jun. 3, 2014

Appraisal column; New York University proposes plan to connect two Upper East Side buildings, one of which is a landmark structure, with a 10-foot-long passageway in a sunken alley; proposal is encountering resistance from some neighborhood residents who fear that NYU's plan will negatively impact property values. MORE

May. 30, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration is negotiating a proposal for building of a 65-story tower directly west of Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan; tower will be home for TD Bank, which is currently located in New Jersey, and is part of plan by de Blasio to allow for new, taller office towers in the Midtown area. MORE

Apr. 19, 2014

New York City health officials propose stronger oversight of rooftop water tanks after surveys find that nearly 60 percent of building owners have not complied with existing rules requiring annual cleaning, inspection and testing of tanks; experts say some tanks, which supply drinking water to millions of New Yorkers each day, contain E coli. MORE

Apr. 12, 2014

Michael Kimmelman notes stark difference between American headquarters being built by South Korean tech rivals Samsung and LG; observes that Samsung building in San Jose, Calif, boasts environmentally sensitive and community-minded design, while LG headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, will ruin views of New Jersey Palisades; holds that Samsung's project is thoughtful, while LG's is public shame. MORE

Apr. 1, 2014

Abandoned Sheraton Hotel in Gary, Ind, that once stood as a beacon of revival is scheduled for demolition later this spring, and will be streamed live on the city's website. MORE

Mar. 16, 2014

Firefighters recover crumpled, but largely intact, Bible belonging to Spanish Christian Church among debris of one of two buildings in East Harlem destroyed by gas explosion. MORE

Mar. 13, 2014

Explosion levels two buildings on 116th Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan, killing at least three people and wounding at least two dozen more; nine occupants remain missing as rescue crews continue to search through rubble in East Harlem; blast, which city officials say was touched off by a gas leak, comes less than 20 minutes after building residents reported a smell that had been detectable since night before. MORE

Mar. 13, 2014

Gas explosion that shook East Harlem neighborhood flattened two buildings that had been fixtures on their block since 1910; two vintage tenements destroyed after blast had housed storefront church, piano store, and 15 modest apartments, mostly occupied by immigrants. MORE

Feb. 12, 2014

Falling ice from 1 World Trade Center has twice prompted the closing of the main entrance of the PATH train station in Lower Manhattan; falling ice is a perennial winter peril in cities where buildings soar into the sky, but experts say it is getting worse because of new, heat trapping technology and extreme weather patterns. MORE

Jan. 13, 2014

Structural insecurity of Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts, opera house in Valencia, Spain, is latest controversy surrounding work of architect Santiago Calatrava; several of Calatrava's other projects have experienced problems, from budget overruns to construction defects. MORE

Dec. 22, 2013

FYI column explains how to estimate how many buildings are in Manhattan, and how many windows they contain. MORE

Dec. 5, 2013

David W Dunlap Building Blocks column describes 200-foot-long shiplike structure that has sat on Seventh Avenue in Greenwich Village for over half a century; originally housing the National Maritime Union, and once scheduled to be razed, building is emerging in third incarnation as stand-alone emergency room and medical care center. MORE

Dec. 3, 2013

Rep Darrell Issa proposes amending the 1910 Height of Buildings Act, which sharply limits height of buildings in Washington; defenders of law say it preserves unobstructed views of the capitol's historic architecture. MORE

Nov. 28, 2013

Latvian Prime Min Valdis Dombrovskis unexpectedly resigns, saying he is accepting responsibility for building collapse in Riga that killed at least 54 people; resignation takes Latvians and European leaders by surprise, since there had been no public calls for Dombrovskis to step down, and investigation of building disaster had not pointed to any wrongdoing by the government. MORE

Nov. 26, 2013

Philadelphia building contractor Griffin T Campbell is charged with murder in connection with June building collapse that killed six people and injured 13 others. MORE

Nov. 13, 2013

One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan is officially ruled to be taller than Chicago's Willis Tower by Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, primary arbiter of structural stature; council says spire atop New York building accounts for ruling, even though it has six fewer floors and its roof is more than 100 feet lower than top side of the Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower. MORE

Oct. 29, 2013

Op-Ed article by author Warren St John warns seven massive residential buildings set for construction along south side of Central Park, so-called 'billionaire's row,' threatens to block significant amount of park's sunlight; notes there has been almost no public debate on issue, and calls on New Yorkers to renew robust dissent that blocked such projects in decades past. MORE

Sep. 29, 2013

Disaster officials say they do not expect to find more survivors in rubble of five-story building that collapsed in Mumbai, India; 33 people have been rescued and 50 more have been found dead in fifth deadly building collapse in and around Mumbai this year. MORE

Sep. 28, 2013

Scores of people are feared trapped or dead after five-story residential building in Mumbai, India, collapses; incident marks fifth deadly collapse in and around city known for crumbling housing structure and poor building standards. MORE

Sep. 3, 2013

British motorist says intense sunlight reflected from skyscraper in London known as the 'Walkie Talkie' warped his Jaguar, which he says was parked across the street; building's developers say they are seeking to rectify the problem. MORE

Aug. 29, 2013

Two adjacent apartment buildings collapse in western India, killing at least 11 people. MORE

Aug. 27, 2013

The Appraisal column; architectural renderings of proposed development projects in New York City offer competing visions of how projects might look, depending on which group is drawing them; developers often use idealized drawings as marketing tools, while opponents often employ caricatures to incite resistance to the projects. MORE

Jul. 12, 2013

Op-Ed article by policy experts Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava argues that faulty urban policies and real-estate speculation are largely to blame for spate of lethal building collapses in Mumbai, India; holds sprawling slums, in terms of safety, are often surprisingly superior to shoddy, high-rise developments. MORE

Jul. 11, 2013

David W Dunlap Building Blocks column; eight-story indentation is carved into residential tower in Long Island City, Queens, to accommodate iconic neon Pepsi-Cola sign that has long been familiar feature along East River, symbolizing area's industrial past; building's design keeps a 45-foot distance between back of sign and structure to comply with zoning laws. MORE

Jul. 3, 2013

Bangladesh, still trying to recover from April collapse of Rana Plaza factory building, deadliest disaster in the history of the garment industry, struggles to police its maze of factories; inspection process is disorganized and haphazard, with unclear lines of authority, and government officials and industry leaders are fighting to make headway in attempts to avert another disaster. MORE

Jun. 30, 2013

Justice over unsafe factory conditions remains elusive in Bangladesh, where garment industry powers economy and wields enormous political clout; country has long struggled to hold its factory owners accountable for deadly disasters like Nov 2012 fire that killed 112 workers and the April 2013 building collapse that claimed 1,129 lives. MORE

Jun. 18, 2013

Japanese engineers are perfecting stealthier and more efficient methods of demolishing buildings, particularly in Tokyo, tightly-packed city with many outdated high-rises and touch recycling and environmental restrictions; methods may eventually find favor in New York and other cities as aging skyscrapers become obsolete. MORE

Jun. 14, 2013

Mayor Michael R Bloomberg proposes major changes to New York City's building code, saying Hurricane Sandy showed that both commercial and residential properties need additional safeguards against severe weather; costs of new regulations are expected to vary widely but could reach into the millions of dollars for single buildings like hospitals. MORE

Jun. 14, 2013

Philadelphia building inspector Ronald Wagenhoffer is found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, one week after building collapsed at site he had inspected, killing six people. MORE

Jun. 11, 2013

Philadelphia officials say grand jury will investigate building collapse that killed six people and may recommend criminal charges; prosecutors charge excavator operator at demolition site, Sean Benschop, with 6 counts of involuntary manslaughter, 13 counts of reckless endangerment, and causing and risking catastrophe after he was found to have marijuana and painkillers in his blood. MORE

Jun. 7, 2013

Rescuers in Philadelphia end their search for survivors and victims of a city-center building collapse on Salvation Army store that left six people dead and 13 injured; focus turns to whether demolition contractor Griffin Campbell Construction had necessary expertise to safely demolish building next to one still being used. MORE

After the accident that killed six students, two independent engineers said they had seen what they considered clear evidence that the balcony that fell in Berkeley, Calif., was ridden with dry rot and decay.